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136 more hired for WPA project

Looking back in history, here were some of the happenings in the Cookeville area for the week of November 13-20 as recorded in the pages of the Herald-Citizen:

1935

Will Wall, who directs the WPA office for the Cookeville area, announced this week that another 113 men and 23 women have been added to the WPA work rolls for new WPA projects funded here.

Those new projects include a new $20,000 fairgrounds for Putnam, a sewing project for women, the extension of Cookeville water lines to West Cookeville's black community, and repairs and renovations to 12 of the county's more than 50 rural schoolhouses.

The new workers bring the total on WPA rolls here now up to 475 men and 90 women.

In South Dakota this week, there was another milestone in aviation history, the newspaper notifies readers.

"Explore 2," a balloon, lifted off near Rapid City, S.D., and rose to a height of 14 miles above the earth, the highest man has ever gone.

Services were held this week for Mrs. Clementia Reagan Yeargin, 77, the widow of Professor Samuel Yeargin. She died in her home this week on South Washington Avenue.

The last living child of prominent pioneers, Isaac and Louisa Reagan, she married the professor in 1886 when he was already serving as principal of the Washington Academy.

He held that position until his death on Oct. 23, 1920. By then he was one of the state's leading educators.

Friends and family also laid John T. Jernigan to rest this week. Jernigan, 76, died at his home at Double Springs from the paralyzing effects of a stroke he suffered a few months ago.

A widely-known teacher in the Double Springs area, he also served on the county court representing the 11th District for 12 years. (Nov. 20, 1941)

1946

It happened just after the shift change when men working on building the Center Hill Dam were still bunched up near their vehicles, getting ready to go to their posts at the massive project.

A charge of dynamite, emplaced by the last shift, went off accidentally, sending a volley of rocks and debris into the workers.

A Lancaster, Tennessee man lost his leg in the blast, and Fred Todd of Double Springs received serious head injuries.

Five other Putnam men were also treated for injuries and released. They are T.C. Florida of Silver Point, James D. Ragsdale of Cookeville, Thomas B. Neal of Cookeville, Dillard Stewart of Silver Point and Hugh Fike of Baxter.

The shower of rocks also severely peppered 20 vehicles near the men.

Bill Terry and Clarence Stewart are the authorized dealers for the new Kaiser automobile that is being talked about so much these days. They gave a reporter for the newspaper a test drive this week.

He reported that the car is surprisingly heavy — 3,300 pounds — but that it has a large enough engine to accelerate well and that it handles curves smoothly. It's a winner, the reporter declares.

"It's here to stay, regardless of how hard some industrial leaders may fight the Kaiser." (Nov. 14, 1946)

1954

The Cookeville City Commission is looking at a low-lying vacant lot across the street from Park View Elementary for use as the city's first landfill.

City officials assured residents in this week's edition that the new landfill concept is a far cry from town dumps. Burying garbage under dirt on a daily basis eliminates flies, rats and odor often associated with town dumps, they say.

In fact, they report that one town used acreage on its public square for a landfill without any adverse effects.

The site they are looking at is between Park View Pool and the new baseball field near Park View School. It should be good for five or six year's use, they say.

The high school football season is over now and Cavalier tackle Edd Matheney and Cavalier fullback Jerry Parris have been named this year's recipients of the Jack Carver Most Valuable Player Award at CHS.

Coach Eddie Watson is pictured on page one this week making the presentations to his two players.

Showing at the Princess Theater this week: Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall star in "How To Marry A Millionaire." Tickets are 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children. (Nov. 13, 1954)

1964

American Legion Boys State is coming to Tennessee Tech.

For the last 25 years the hands-on exercise in state government for 500 of the state's best and brightest high school boys has been held each June at Castle Heights Academy in Lebanon.

This year, the school decided it can no longer host the program and Tennessee Tech stepped up to volunteer.

The 26th annual American Legion Boys State will be at TTU in June.

Editorial page columnist Andrew Tully says this week that President Lyndon Johnson faces a terrible decision in Southeast Asia, where hundreds of US soldiers are currently serving as advisors to the South Vietnamese Army.

The South Vietnamese are being overrun regularly by Viet Cong rebel units, so regularly and so completely that the Joint Chiefs of Staff have told LBJ that South Vietnam cannot hold back the rebels more than two or three months.

Presently, VC are using staging areas across the DMZ in North Vietnam, and South Vietnamese troops and their US advisors are not permitted by the rules of conduct to pursue them

Will LBJ send in more American troops or let South Vietnam fall? (Nov. 17, 1964)

1974

TVA said this week that if Cookeville doesn't voluntarily reduce its use of electricity by 25 percent in the next month, TVA will take steps to cut power use here itself.

The nation's coal miners are on strike and TVA's coal stockpiles, which power its generation plants, are dwindling by the day. TVA is doing all it can to stretch its present supply.

Some cities and rural utility districts in TVA's region are making plans for rotating power blackouts — power would be off at every home and business for three of each 24 hours of the day.

The UCEMC is drawing up such a plan for it's district, but Cookeville Electric Dept. Supt. W.R. Holland says the city is doing all it can to meet TVA's rationing requirements but keep power on to homes, industries and businesses.

Street lights will be dimmed and all outdoor recreational and decorative lighting will be shut off, he said. Some industries here are cutting back on shifts and homeowners are being asked to cut back.

President Gerald Ford today reassured the nation that America is settling into a recession not a depression, and says there is little danger of another Great Depression occurring due to modern safeguards in the nation's economic structure.

The recession, he says, is forecast to bottom out by mid-1975. (Nov. 13, 1974)

1984

Residents who are awaiting a court date in their lawsuit seeking to close down the county's rock crusher east of Cookeville say a blast at the quarry this week sent a large chunk of hard-packed clay crashing down through a wooden deck on a Skyline Drive home.

They say this shows the county's newest safety measures at the quarry are not working.

Putnam Road Supervisor Ronnie Herren says blasting crews set off a charge too high on the quarry wall and that blasting will cease in that location until other steps can be taken.

The Soil Conservation Service this week, in its annual fall banquet, honored Jim Edd Bartlett of Dry Valley as the year's Master Farmer and David Judd of the Salem community as it's outstanding Pasture Farmer. (Nov. 14, 1984)